Brazil Builds Media Condo Over African Burial Grounds For Olympics

Developers are destroying archaeological sites of formerly enslaved Africans to make room for journalists.

A community of descendants from enslaved Africans, are accusing Brazilian developers of building condominiums for journalists over a sacred site where their Ancestors where buried.

According to The Guardian, developers are "destroying archaeological remains at the site of an old sugar mill, and depriving the community of a public space for cultural activities that celebrate its Afro-Brazilian heritage." In 2013, the land was purchased by Cyrela, who then proceeded to cut down trees, and tear down a slave era sugar mill in order to build the condo for the Olympics. The condo has been open to journalists since July 5, but Brazil has yet to widely cover this story within their own national media.

It is estimated that 40 percent of Africans imported to the Americas were taken to Brazil. Africans who were enslaved in the country actively resisted the country's slave system, through individual and collective means; those who managed to escape lifelong captivity often formed their own autonomous communities known as "quilombos" or "mocambos."Whereas researchers succeeded in gathering information about these communities elsewhere in the Americas, Brazil's historical memory of these important acts of resistance is relatively scant, despite the country being the biggest importers of enslaved Africans in the world until 1888.

Descendants of the Camorim quilambo have attempted to purchase the land themselves, but the "process was never finalized" and the Rio de Janeiro city government has stated that the the Media Village was "built on private property" within regulations.

Brazil has also come under fire in light of their high level of police violence towards young black people living in favelas. Black Lives Matter activists in the United States have journeyed to the country last week in an act of political solidarity, just in time for the Rio Olympics.

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More tea is being spilled in the trial of pseudo-famous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera. On Monday (Dec. 17), it was revealed in court that El Chapo went to the sister of a Colombian drug trafficker to cop methamphetamine for his Sinaloa drug cartel.

According to the New York Daily News, Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa was one of the witnesses called to the stand during the 61-year-old's criminal preceding in the States. Chapo is being hit with a laundry list of charges including money laundering, conspiracy, firearms and international distribution of cocaine, meth, heroin, and marijuana.

Cifuentes confessed Chapo went behind his back and made a deal with his siblings who are also involved in their illegal activities to be a source for methamphetamine so that he can turn a profit in his business.

Cifuentes said that Chapo neglected the fact that meth is extremely addictive and can damage the physical and mental state of young people who consume it and purchased from his sister and brother, the drug's precursor ephedrine.

“Don Joaquín knows I (didn’t) like to f**k around with ephedrine,” Cifuentes said in the courtroom.

It wasn't until after a plane that carried Colombian-imported cocaine crashed on it's trip to Mexican that Cifuentes' siblings came clean and admitted they took a deal with Chapo as it the ephedrine was also in the cargo of the aircraft.

Cifuentes escaped to Venezuela in 2010 around the time these incidents were going down and changed his mind regarding meth out of desperation for money, saying that “Hunger made me change my mind."

Chapo faces life in prison if convicted of all charges.

READ MORE: A Man Claiming To Be El Chapo's Nephew Threatens To Have Tekashi Mother Deported

Angela Ponce didn’t walk away with the crown during last night’s Miss Universe pageant (Dec. 16), but she did end up being a winner in her own right. Ponce, who represented her country of Spain, is the first transgender woman to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

“This is for you, for those who have no visibility, no voice, because we all deserve a world of respect, inclusion and freedom,” the model wrote on Instagram Friday (Dec. 14). “And today I am here, proudly representing my nation, all women and human rights.” Catriona Gray, the 24-year-old Miss Philippines, walked away with the crown over models from South Africa and Venezuela, who came in second and third.

Ponce, 27, was crowned Miss Spain back in June, beating out 22 contestants for the win. At the time of that win, she told The Associated Press, “If my going through all this contributes to the world moving a little step forward, then that’s a personal crown that will always accompany me.”

The pageant, formerly owned by Donald Trump, lifted its ban on transgender contestants in 2012. This is the same year that Jenna Talackova of Canada threatened legal action against the organization, who was rejected because she was not a “naturally born” female.

A number of artists from the scope of latinidad contributed to making 2018 another rich year in music. If hip-hop is the world's most consumed genre, latin pop, reggaeton, latin trap, flamenco and more of the subgenres of Latinx music rested in between.

This includes J Balvin being one of the most streamed artists on Spotify, Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy scoring stellar Grammy nominations, the rising appeal of Harlem rapper Melii, the return of Wisin Y Yandel and Bad Bunny sprinkling the gift that is Latin trap on your getting ready playlists.

But there were also artists who took big risks like Kali Uchis' coy yet forward voice in R&B, Jessie Reyez's dynamic voice and collaborations with the likes of Eminem and many more.

Check out our favorite albums from the best and brightest Latinx artists of the year below.